Please introduce yourself
Mark Hermann, GM, Dermalogica UK & IRE. I have worked in the beauty industry for around 20 years for brands like The Body Shop, L'Oreal and Molton Brown.
What’s your favourite aspect of working within the Beauty and Fragrance industry?
From electronics to beauty… I joined the beauty industry by coincidence where I developed an interest in brands - It was Business with a purpose! I enjoyed the science and the products in the beauty industry, but my passion is really around the people. Coaching, mentoring, watching people grow and develop in their career is something I find fulfilling and a very enjoyable part of my job.
The industry has been going through some incredible changes. What are the most exciting opportunities for someone looking to start a career in the beauty industry?
Dermalogica proved to be the perfect place for me; with its strong culture we are known as ‘The Tribe’ and genuinely understand how people play an instrumental role in the success of any business. Education is key! We educate over 100,000 skin therapists a year globally and this education leads to many of them establishing their own businesses, creating a livelihood out of their craftsmanship; people really have their heart in their businesses. This resonates so well with me as formerly self-employed.
What’s your number one most important part you will take from last year and what’s your new focus for 2021?
2020 proved to be the toughest year ever, but I am proud to say that Dermalogica evolved still as a profitable business and without receiving any governmental support. As a business we transformed and re-modelled our business into a digitally led organisation. Not just from selling products online, but also engaging with our clients and customers in a digital way. We learnt that the physical and mental well-being of our teams play a huge role in how we perform as a business - we knew parts of it, but it became much more evident and I would say about half of my time has been spent around creating a safe environment, well-being and communicating with the teams along with the remaining half navigating the business safely. Quite a surprising balance!
Dermalogica's focus for 2021 is to create the perfect balance between the digital and the physical experience; this is fundamental to our business. Customers need for browsing, store visits, meeting other people, and physical touch will never go out of fashion. It is all about how we stay relevant, creating the right reasons for them to take the time to go visit us. Our mission is to educate skin therapists and to rejuvenate our clients with their best skin ever, through understanding and being in-tune with their skin, getting regular treatments and skin check-ups along with a good home skin care regime.
Walking the talk - we have opened several stores during the pandemic, developed a new shop fit, and education programmes to optimise the Customer Experience. Simultaneously, we have created a new team that focusses solely on servicing customers digitally through a 5-minute skin check-up and chat. For 2021, levelling up our social selling skills is key to continued success…
We are looking to share all things positive. Do you have a positive memory, phrase, or an event you can share with us?
2020 will stand for me like the year that the beauty industry came together; we were happy to see so many ‘jump on the band wagon’ with the idea of addressing government about taking the beauty industry seriously. Let’s face it, we are a force to be reckoned with!
How important is Copra to you?
I am proud of the way Dermalogica played its role as the leading supplier of professional skin care, and Copra was influential in playing a key role as a body for the industry – “Thank you for that!”
Comments